Virginia’s 8th U.S. Congressional District rep Donald S. Beyer Jr., in an exclusive interview with the News-Press last week, touched on two potentially epochally transformative developments that could lead society beyond the current dark Trump era to a new renaissance, although there is no minimizing the pain and hardship that is currently being inflicted nationwide but in particular on this region.
Beyer spoke directly with the News-Press’ Nicholas Benton last week and the three major questions Benton had for him had to do with his current assessment of how bad things can be expected to get under Trump, his assessment of the new Pope and the imminent promise of thermonuclear fusion energy for humanity and this planet as a whole.
It is the third matter which has been among the closest to Beyer’s interest as the lone U.S. Rep who has spearheaded the Congressional Fusion caucus and for which the first ever contract to build the first ever, as in ever, thermonuclear fusion reactor has been let by Virginia Dominion Power to Commonwealth Fusion of Massachusetts for construction in southern Virginia over the next year.
It is no longer an experiment, but it is designed to actually produce a net surplus of the
energy that is the most fundamental power source of the universe as we know it, that which powers our sun. It is the result of a fusion of two atoms of helium under intense gravitation to create a nuclear reaction.
While always recognized as a potential source of almost limitless and cheap energy, it has never been appreciated as a realistic goal of human society even heading into the first years of this century.
Let the record show that this writer has been an outspoken advocate for this transformative technology for over 50 years. It is safe in fundamental ways that more traditional nuclear fission is not. Instead of splitting the heaviest atoms in the traditional fission process that represents inherent dangers in overheating and melting down, when a fusion reaction fails, the entire system becomes inherently inert as there is no basic issue with overheating.
The process is incredibly cheap once the technology is mastered to generate net energy and it is also virtually limitless. Ordinary seawater is its primary energy source. Why hasn’t the world already learned more about this incredible technology. There have been those who have claimed that it can never be mastered by human technology and there are those who are reluctant to acknowledge the incredible technology that is about to be made available to civilization that promises to end energy shortages or limits forever.
Fusion technology will change the calculus totally on the issue of energy requirements for data centers. And they are small. In fact, one could fit on the property currently owned in the City limits of the City of Falls Church by the Beyer family and the City of Falls Church as its west end. No joke.
A Falls Church-based national news correspondent, speaking with Benton last week, exclaimed when told of this news,”Why isn’t this all over the news everywhere already? This is incredible news.”
The second issue which Beyer commented on to Benton had to do with the elevation last week of the new Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope ever, out of the southside of Chicago, which came as a huge and pleasant surprise to most who were expecting a more conservative turn for the church in the wake of the passing of the progressive Pope Francis earlier this year.
Pope Leo wasted no time taking on the Trump administration, especially recent Catholic convert Vice President J.D. Vance. Leo claimed that God does have any ranking order for his children as Vance had suggested earlier placing foreigners at the end of a list that began for him with family.
Many are now hopeful, Beyer said that Leo’s elevation will be felt particularly strongly in a revival of a broad and wide revival of moral suasion in the U.S. population against the greed and corruption rhemes that are so badly radiating from Trump.
As for the third question about how much damage Trump can do, the are already indications that Trump’s capacity for destruction may be limited by how badly the GOP will expect to do in the midterms next year, and this year in key bellwether states like Virginia and New Jersey.
Beyer, who made it crystal clear he intends to run again next year, is optimistic and still says he finds former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg his best choice for president in 2028 simply because of his intelligence and ability to articulate and lead.
Don’t forget, it was Beyer who was the first officials to step forward and back Barack Obama before it was the least bit popular.
